A known type of portable cleaning appliance is a hand-held vacuum cleaner. A common type is that manufactured by Black and Decker® under the registered trademark Dustbuster®. Such a hand-held vacuum cleaner has a main body with a suction inlet at a distal end thereof. A suction nozzle extends from the suction inlet to a dust bag for separating dirt and dust from an airflow. A motor and fan arrangement is also provided in the main body together with a power source. A graspable handle is generally located at the rear of the main body.
An alternative configuration of hand-held vacuum cleaner is that manufactured by Black and Decker under the registered trademark Pivot Vac®. Such a hand-held vacuum cleaner comprises a main body including a fixed graspable handle. A suction inlet is located at a distal end of a suction nozzle which leads to separating apparatus such as a cyclonic separator. In this arrangement, the suction nozzle is operable to pivot with respect to the main body so that the suction nozzle can be moved between a stored position and a position in which it can be used to clean a surface.